Door for vehicles



Julizz, 1952 v E.` H. HlcKLlNG Erm.

DooR FOR VEHICLES Filed June l5, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 /nven tor.:

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Attorney July 22, 1952 K E. H. HlKLlNG ErAL 2,604,152

DooR FoP` VEHICLES Filed June 15, 1949 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 22, 1952 E. H. HICKLING ETAL DOOR FOR VEHICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June l5, 1949 fai/5.

Patented July 22, 1952 DOOR FOR VEHICLES v Ernest H. Hickling, London, and Frank Clieings and William Butlin, Greenford, England Application June 15, 1949, Serial No. 99,154

In Great Britain June 16, 1948 This invention relates to doors for vehicles andthe like and more particularly to doors for closing the open sides or rear end of a delivery V2 Claims. (Cl. 160-201) being secured to the van or "similar vehicle and lhas for its object Y to provide an improved form of construction in which the door can be moved. either to the fully open position leaving. the opening-clear andY unobstructed or toany intermediateposition without projecting outside the vehicle body.

According to the invention there is provided a door of the type referred to comprising vertical slats or sections hingedly connected along their adjacent vertical edges, the upper and lower ends of the sections being movable along guides fixed to or mounted adjacent the roof and floor of the vehicle body and extending within at least part of adjoining body walls.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred form of the invention applied to the rear end wall of a delivery vehicle and in which: Y y

Figure 1 isy a perspective view of the rear end of a vehicle showing the improved door in the closed position.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-'2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a part elevational view of the door as seen from the inside of the vehicle.

Figure 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

In the construction illustrated, each of the slats or sections I of the door is formed by a hollow box section of aluminium or other sheet metal measuring about ve inches in width and one inch in thickness and extending substantially the full height of the door opening. The slat is built up from an inner strip Ia of anged channelsection and a substantially iiat cuter strip I b whose side margins are folded back over the cutwardly projecting flanges of the inner strip as shown in Figure 2. The two end faces of the channel section strip Ia are of unequal depth and the at outer strip Ib is cranked at one face so that in the completed slat the projecting flange 2 on one side is set back from the front surface suiciently to allow it to lie behind the ange 3 'on the other side of the adjacent slat. The inner and outer strips are separated and strengthened by wooden llets 4 of approximately square Asection extending along the edges of the slat between these inner and outer strips. The adjacent slats I are hinged together by piano type hinges meas- 2 in length the hinge plates rear faces of the slats by wood screws rI3 which take into the,` wooden fillets 4.

, At the upper end of jacent slats the hinge beyondthe .slats and forms the pivot for aU- shapedbracket v8 -spaced from the slats by a spring 9 .ahdbetween pivotallysupported a VA-groovcd roller I0 running on a guide track (not shown) of T-shaped or similar section secured to the upper part of the vehicle body. At the lower end ofthe junction between adjacent slats the 'hinge pin 7 projects downwardly and forms a pivot for a bracket II of inverted U-shape between the arms of which there is pivotally supported a roller I2 measuring about one inch in diameter and 1% inch in Width running on a guide rail I3 of inverted T section secured on or recessed into the oor of the vehicle.

'lhe upper and lower ends of the hinge pin 1 joining terminal slats are likewise extended and function as pivots for small rollers I4 some inch in diameter and 1/2 inch in width which run in channel section guides I5 secured in recesses in the vehicle body and roof respectively.

The rear corner pillar I6 of the vehicle body is bevelled to enable the slats to negotiate` the curved portions of the guideways I3 and I5, and carries a projection on which there is xed a moisture resistant weather strip I'I which abuts the ange I8 when the door is closed. A 4wooden hatten I9 placed between the hinge plate 5 and this ange protects the slat from deformation during the action of closing the door. When the door is fully open the slats lie within the hollow rear portions of the side Wall of the vehicle body.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what We claim is: l l. A closed delivery truck having a truck body including a door opening in one of its Walls, and a sectional door structure mounted slidably substantially parallel to a respective wall of the' truck body for closing and uncovering said opening, said door structure comprising a plurality of clongated closed hollow sections of generally recuring some six inches the junction between adtangular cross-section disposed side to side, re-

pin 1 projects upwardlyv the; arms of which there ising shorter than the other, each of said branches ending in a flange extending parallel to the base branch of the said strip, the other of said strips having along one of its long sides a set-off flange, the other long side of the strip ending in a, flange flush with the said strip, the said set-off ange being joined to the flange of said short Uebranch,

the said ilush flange being joined to the nange of.

said long U-branch, thereby forming a vclosed hollow section of generally rectangular cross-section,

theVset-off ange and the flush flange of each two adjacent sections overlapping and complementing one the other. to form together Withthe respective strips, a substantially continuous outer door surface when said door sections arein alignment, a sealing strip disposed on the truck body Wall including said opening in a position longitudinally abutting the set-off flange of the next .adjacent section when the said sectionsare in aligned position, thereby forming a seal between the door structure and the said truck body Wall, a plurality of hinge means mounted on the base branches ofrsaid U-shaped strips, each of said' hinge means joining each two adjacent door sections along ftheir respective long sides, thereby providing for movement of thesections relative onev to another and to the longitudinal plane of the door structure, and a plurality Yof guide menn-- -bers provided spaced apart at the two shortl sides of said door sections, said truck body comprising guide tracks for said guide members mounted ad# 4 jacent to respective oppostie wall edges defining said door opening, said guide tracks extending parallel to the wall including said door opening and beyond the said opening for selectively placing the door in front of said opening or :parallel toa body wall portion adjacent to the door opening. i

y2. yAv delivery truck asdescrbed in claim l, wherein the flanges of one strip of each section are bent back about the respective flanges of the Zsecond strips ofthe respective section, thereby joining the said strips. f

ERNEST H. HICKLING. FRANK CHEFFINGS, g WILLIAM BUTLIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Afile of this patent: Y

` UNITED STATES PATENT Number Name Date4 '1,012,849 Hedwall Dec.` 28, "1911 1,200,639 Moore et a1. Oct. 10, 12916 2,075,716' Harrison .1 Mar.-30,=1937r 2,252,139 Schlacter 1 Aug. 12, 1941 2,330,670 Blackv Sept; 28, 1943 2,391,845 Rowe Dec. 25, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Great Britain Dec. 20, 193g 

